On the Importance of Birthdays
by Luna Darkside
Summary: "I think my birthday should be the day we met. After all, that's the day my life really began." Shinichi doesn't understand what's so significant about his birthday. Kaito is confused... until he explains. /ShinKai, oneshot, complete/


_Look! I wrote something for Shinichi's birthday! :D :D_

_Well, anyway, at the moment I'm in a bit of a hurry, so I'll keep this short. _

_Warnings: uh, typos (because awful forty-five minute fics tend to have those) and shounen-ai (because my fics are all shounen-ai, let's face it). Pairings: Shinichi x Kaito (I would say reversible, but I guess that's a matter of opinion), Hakuba x Aoko in passing, a little Takagi x Satou._

_I hope you enjoy! - Luna_

**On the Importance of Birthdays**

Kaito glanced into the kitchen, phone pressed to his right ear. Inside, Ran and Aoko were frantically discussing something amid the frenzy of mixing and cutting in low, harried tones. They shot him twin looks of irritation before Aoko hurried over to slam the door in his face.

He sighed and turned back to his living room, where police officers and classmates alike were milling about. Hakuba, who was trapped in conversation with Inspector Nakamori and Hattori, shot him a halfway pleading, halfway annoyed glare.

Switching his phone from one ear to the other, Kaito pinched his nose bridge. "Yes, so if you could make it, that would be amazing," he said, rubbing at the inner corners of his eyes. Really? Why was everyone assuming that it was _Kaito's _fault that Shinichi had begged off on the party? It wasn't as if Kaito had planned for Shinichi to have a midterm or a research paper or anything.

A heavy exhale rattled across the line, interrupting the sound of rapid-fire typing. "Do I have to? Honestly, Kaito, I'm busy. The professor wants this essay back, and you know how she gets."

"Frankly, I don't think she'd mind if you were a few days late," Kaito muttered, thinking of their busty criminal psychology professor who seemed to have a thing for former high school detectives. He restrained a groan. "But really. You _need_ to come to this party." _Because it's for your birthday and all. You know_.

"Why are you guys having a party tonight, anyway?" Shinichi grumbled. There was a rustle of papers, and the typing halted. "I mean, it's a Sunday night. We've got classes tomorrow. And I guess it's Cinco de Mayo tomorrow, but none of us celebrate that."

"God you're an idiot," Kaito said before he could stop himself. He quickly cleared his throat, hoping Shinichi hadn't heard it. Judging from the prickly silence, he had. "Well, it's a very special party. You really, really need to come." _Or else your karate champion childhood friend will kick my head off and Aoko will probably put that mop of hers to good use. _

A pause, then a grumble. A click, like Shinichi was shutting his laptop. "Okay, okay, fine. I'm coming. It's at your house, right?"

"Right," affirmed Kaito with a rush of relief. It looked like his head would remain on his shoulders for a little longer. "See you soon."

"You owe me so much for this," Shinichi replied shortly before he hung up. Only _he_ would think that coming to a party warranted payment.

Kaito clicked his phone off and breathed out, dropping it into his pocket. Damn Shinichi and his work ethic. He turned around, about to go tell Aoko and Ran that he'd convinced Shinichi to come, when Hakuba materialized out of nowhere, an expression of pure frustration on his face.

Arching an eyebrow, Kaito slanted his head at him quizzically. "Did I do something wrong again?"

The blond detective's eyes darkened as he rubbed at his mouth, trying to remove the irate twist from his lips. "No, not really. Just –" He waved his hands incomprehensibly before deflating. "Hattori-kun, that's all."

"Oh." Kaito glanced across the room at the tan detective, who looked supremely smug as he clapped Inspector Nakamori on the shoulder. The Osakan caught his gaze and winked, waving one hand cheerfully. Kaito resisted the urge to smirk back. Anyone who could piss off Hakuba in less than five minutes was good in his books.

Returning his gaze to Hakuba, Kaito nodded. "So what did you want?"

"I saw you talking on the phone. Was that Kudou-kun on the line?"

"Yes, it was." Kaito leaned against a wall, guarded, as he studied Hakuba's face. "I convinced him to come."

"Oh, good." The blond grinned. It was not a friendly grin. "I'm glad you got him to come, even though that was your one and only job to begin with."

"What are you trying to say?" Kaito was suddenly very tired. Hakuba tended to make him feel that way.

"Well, you know," the detective said airily, making a hand gesture that did not help Kaito understand anything at all. "We were just expecting you to do it, seeing as he's your man and all that."

_My man? _Kaito stared. "I swear, if you weren't Aoko's boyfriend then I would kick you _so hard _right now. Because what the hell, Hakuba? No. We're not like that."

Hakuba just smiled his bastardly smile. Honestly, Kaito had no idea what Aoko saw in him. "It's common knowledge that the two of you are together, Kuroba-kun. So when we heard that you didn't bring him to his own birthday party, we were all shocked. What a cold man you are."

"Okay, I'm going to pretend that I have no idea what you're implying and walk away now before I'm overcome by the urge to break your face," Kaito replied, very slowly. Carefully, he walked away from Hakuba and headed for the kitchen, ignoring the detective's chuckle of amusement.

Once he reached the shut door, Kaito rapped on it once before he pushed it open. Ran and Aoko both glanced up simultaneously, expressions identically irate and horrifyingly frigid. Suddenly, it felt as if the temperature had dropped to arctic levels.

"I got Shinichi to come. He's on his way now," Kaito stammered. Something like cold sweat slithered down his back. Sure, Ran was a sweet girl and all that, and Aoko was like a sister to him, but they were both, um, _scary as hell_.

At that, though, Ran's eyes brightened. "You did? Good job, Kaito-kun!" Her smile was luminous. Kaito shuddered with fear.

"But really," Aoko sighed as she refocused her attention on the cake mix, "I can't believe you didn't get him to come in the first place." The look she shot him was nothing short of reprimanding. "He's your boyfriend, after all. You'd think you could corral him."

"Okay, seriously, what the hell is up with everyone? Why is everyone saying that Shinichi is my – my significant other?" spluttered Kaito, going pink. "We're not like that."

Ran and Aoko just traded dubious nods. "Mmhm," they hummed knowingly, perfectly in sync. "Right, you keep telling yourself that."

Deciding that it would be a waste of time to even attempt to reason with them, Kaito just huffed and fled, slamming the door behind him. He almost wanted to kick everyone out of his house, but he wasn't that childish. Just, he didn't need to be thinking about Shinichi being his man, boyfriend, or anything like that. Wishful thinking never got anyone anywhere –

"Uh, Kaito…?"

Whirling around in surprise, Kaito blinked as he found himself face-to-face with Shinichi. He gaped. "Oh," he managed intelligently. "You got here, uh, faster than I expected."

Shinichi frowned. His cowlick seemed to be standing up even more than usual, Kaito noted mentally. "The dorm is five minutes from your house, Kaito." One of his eyebrows crept up his forehead. "Are you okay?"

_I'd be more okay if you didn't look so good in jeans and a rumpled t-shirt_, Kaito thought with a slightly bitter edge. _God I hate you. _Flinch. _But then I, um… don't._

So yes, maybe his friends were halfway (but only halfway!) right in thinking that Shinichi and Kaito were together. _He_'d like that, actually, but Shinichi wouldn't.

"Yes, uh, fine." Clearing his throat, Kaito tried to arrange his face in something resembling a smile. "I'm fine."

"Right." Still regarding him with slight concern, Shinichi waved at someone over Kaito's shoulder. Peering back, Kaito found that Hattori was flapping frantically at him, a manic smile on his face.

The detective sighed, making Kaito look back at him. "Is anyone going to explain to me why all my friends are at this particular party?" Shinichi mumbled, donning a smile as Takagi patted him on the back in passing.

Kaito stared at him askance. "Haven't you figured it out yet?"

"Huh?" Cue clueless blinking. "Figured what out?"

Resisting the urge to hit him over the head, Kaito carefully enunciated, "It's your birthday, Shinichi. This is your party."

Shinichi's lips parted, as if he was going to say something, before he let out a small, "Oh." His right hand gravitated to the back of his neck as he bit his lip embarrassedly. "Well, uh, I probably should have figured that out…?"

"Yes, maybe." But Kaito smiled anyway. Shinichi seemed a little more vulnerable with that flush working its way up his neck, and that was good enough for Kaito. Sometimes, he needed a reminder that Shinichi wasn't all ice, intelligence, and sarcasm.

He motioned at the kitchen. "Mouri-chan and Aoko are baking the cake right now. Until then, you just socialize." Kaito turned to leave when Shinichi's voice stopped him in his tracks.

"I don't know about this, Kaito."

Looking over his shoulder, Kaito watched as Shinichi balked, hesitating. At Kaito's questioning eyebrow raise, he shrugged self-consciously, eyes concentrated on the ground. "I mean, I don't feel like today's all the special, to be honest, and I mean, I do have that paper."

Only Shinichi, Kaito swore. Only Shinichi could say something so weird and still be so downright attractive.

"Look, Shinichi," Kaito said aloud, giving a quarter-turn so he was facing Shinichi more directly. "It might not seem special to you, but it's still important. You're twenty today. It's a milestone."

"I just…" Shinichi sighed. When he raised his head, his face was scrunched. "May 4th – my birthday… it just doesn't feel important to me."

"Could you just –" Kaito cut himself off. _Okay, Kaito. Let the man think what he wants. Let him have his strange misconceptions about the important of birthdays._ He raked a hand through his hair and offered a smile. "Just have fun tonight, okay? Even if you don't think today's important. Just… have fun."

Shinichi stared for a second before he seemed to gather himself. "Okay."

* * *

It wasn't till about two hours later that the cake had been consumed and Shinichi had been forced onto the couch, surrounded by presents that were just about heaped to the ceiling. The guests maneuvered themselves around the area as best as they could. Kaito found himself perched precariously on the arm of the couch, very close to being suffocated by presents. He prayed to the god of gravity that they wouldn't fall.

The detective stared at the boxes bemusedly, glancing up at Kaito uneasily. "You guys really didn't have to do this, you know. And I shouldn't open these –"

"Oh, shut up, Shinichi," Ran cut in merrily, smacking him "playfully" on the back of the head. Kaito, Hattori, and Hakuba all simultaneously winced. "Just enjoy yourself! Everyone got you something special, you know!" She plucked a box from the top of the mountain and dropped it into Shinichi's lap. "This one's from Officer Satou!"

Shinichi blinked, searching the faces for the policewoman. She beamed at him, arm snug around Takagi's waist. "Happy birthday, Kudou-kun."

"Thanks." Shinichi managed his own smile before he meticulously began to pull off the wrapping paper, making a sound of discontent when he accidentally tore an edge. Everyone heaved a collective sigh.

As Hattori berated Shinichi on the proper way to unwrap presents, Aoko leaned around the tower of presents. "Hey, Kaito, what did you get for Shinichi-kun?"

Kaito flinched. "Er…" He hadn't actually, er, known what to get him, so, um, there was that? The fact that Kaito hadn't actually gotten Shinichi a birthday present, that is? He shrugged awkwardly.

Unfortunately, Aoko correctly read his expression. "You didn't get him anything?" she squawked, drawing the attention of her father, Yukiko, and Inspector Megure.

At the slight commotion, Shinichi glanced up from the stack of cold case files in his lap. "Are you guys okay?"

"Oh, of course we are!" Aoko twittered, waving him off. "We're perfectly fine! You just keep on opening presents, Shinichi-kun!"

He stared for a second longer. "Um, okay."

Once Shinichi started on Hattori's present, which looked suspiciously like a baseball cap wrapped in newspaper, Aoko scowled at Kaito. "You didn't get a present for your own boyfriend?" she hissed in a scandalized tone.

"For the love of – _he's not my boyfriend_," Kaito whispered back heatedly, adjusting himself so his face wasn't visible to Shinichi. "And I just didn't know what to get him. I mean, he's got every copy of every Sherlock Holmes book in the original English already!" He threw his hands up, almost overturning about three bags as he did so. "What else do you get for a guy like him?"

"I think next year I'm going to get him an actually _caring _boyfriend," Aoko snapped, rolling her eyes. "Just think, Kaito. The man adores you. Anything you give him would be perfect! You could probably give him an onion and he'd react like you'd given him the moon, found him the cure for cancer, and named a constellation after him."

Sputtering as quietly as he could manage, Kaito recoiled. "I think you're overestimating his feelings for me."

Aoko just sent him a flat stare. "Am I?" With that ambiguous remark, she sauntered off. "Shinichi-kun, open mine next!" she called, digging around for her present, and Shinichi complied, setting aside the oh-so-unexpected baseball cap that he'd just finished unraveling from a few yards of newspaper.

Watching Aoko bounce excitedly as Shinichi tugged at the edge of the bright red wrapping paper, Kaito breathed out. He felt bad, yes, that he hadn't gotten Shinichi anything, but at the same time, he felt it was justified.

What was he supposed to give the man who had just about everything he could ever want?

* * *

Kaito waved as Hakuba's car pulled out of the driveway, headlights cutting twin beams through the inky night. Restraining a sigh of relief, he shut the door and leaned against it. Parties that lasted until four in the morning could get tiring, clearly.

"Everyone's gone now, huh?"

Jumping at the sound of Shinichi's voice, Kaito's head jerked up just in time to see Shinichi hang out of the living room, wearing a knowing smile.

He grimaced. "Shinichi, you should go back to the dorm."

Leaning against the wall, Shinichi crossed his arms over his chest. "But that would be rude of me, you know. To just leave you here to clean up by yourself."

"It's your birthday, Shinichi." Kaito rubbed a hand over his face wearily, brushing past Shinichi to enter the living room. He winced at the amount of wrapped paper strewn about and the wall of gifts piled on the couch. "You're not supposed to stay behind to clean up."

"Like I said." Shinichi followed him inside, stooping to snag a slip of tattered blue paper. "I really don't think my birthday is that important – it's just another day to me."

Gathering up an armful of paper, Kaito headed for the kitchen, Shinichi at his heels. "We've gone over this. Could you at least pretend that you're glad you're twenty now?" He turned around to face Shinichi once he had deposited the paper into the trash. "Birthdays are special."

Shinichi dropped his own load of paper into the trash can. His eyes were narrowed slightly as he turned, his gaze landing on Kaito's face. "If it's so special, then why didn't you get me anything?"

Kaito was fairly certain his heart stopped at that.

"Huh?" was all he managed to say as Shinichi advanced on him. Instinctively, Kaito retreated, his back bumping against the edge of the sink.

Shinichi's expression was unreadable as he tilted his head to one side. "Don't think I didn't notice, you know," he said softly, one hand landing on either side of Kaito's arms and effectively boxing him in. Kaito shifted uncomfortably. "Everyone got me something except for you. Why's that?"

"Because," Kaito answered, blinking fast. Was there something wrong with this situation or was it just him? "I didn't know what to get you. You've got everything you could ever want."

A glimmer of confusion flitted through Shinichi's eyes. "No, I don't," Shinichi disagreed, one eyebrow drawing upwards. "I mean, yes, I've got a lot, but everyone found something to get me." He was smiling now, just a slight curl of his lips. "And it should be simple enough for _you_, of all people."

"What do you mean by that?" Kaito's breath hitched as Shinichi leaned in slightly. He swallowed, mouth suddenly bone dry. "Fine. I'll just ask then. What do you want?"

There was a short silence. Kaito could hear the drip of the faucet (he should probably get that fixed) and the clamorous thud of his heart (because Shinichi was really, really close) and the almost imperceptible sound of Shinichi breathing (alive and in front of him and oh) –

"You," Shinichi whispered, his breath feathering across Kaito's mouth, and Kaito barely had time to blink before he was being kissed, Shinichi's lips soft and warm against his.

_So this is kissing Shinichi_, Kaito thought hazily as his arms reached up to loop around Shinichi's neck and drag in him a little closer. It wasn't otherworldly or mind shattering or anything like that – he was still acutely aware of the sink pressing into his back and the way the cowlick at the back of Shinichi's neck refused to sit flat no matter how much Kaito smoothed it – but someone, at the same time, it was perfect.

They broke apart when one of them realized that oxygen was necessary. Shinichi exhaled hard as he leaned forward, dropping his forehead heavily onto Kaito's shoulder. "Sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?" Kaito's hands were still laced through his hair. He wondered if he should disentangle his fingers.

Shinichi pulled back. His expression was tense. "I don't… sorry if I forced you into anything. I mean, it was sort of… you know. I got carried away."

Kaito gawped. "I kissed you back, you know."

"It could have been on reflex, or some kind of natural reaction –"

"God you're an idiot." Kaito withdrew his right hand from Shinichi's hair to press it against his cheek. He smirked. "Just so you know, I got you a birthday present. Just what you asked for."

Shinichi stared wordlessly for a second before he breathed out, laughing self-deprecatingly. "Man, I really am an idiot."

"Yep." Kaito grinned as Shinichi yanked him back in.

* * *

"You know," Kaito said the next morning, as the two of them sat at his kitchen table. "I still don't get why you don't think birthdays are special. They really are."

"Huh?" Tearing his gaze away from his coffee cup, Shinichi met his eyes curiously. "You're still going on about that?"

"Well, kind of. Because birthdays are really special." Kaito slanted his head at him. "Even if you're not excited about getting older."

Shinichi rolled his eyes. "That's not the reason I don't think birthdays are important, you know."

"It isn't?" Kaito lifted an eyebrow. "Then why?"

"I don't feel as if May 4th is particularly significant," Shinichi explained, casually sliding his hand across the table to intertwine his fingers with Kaito's. He smiled, sudden and sweet. "I think my birthday should be the day we met. After all, that's the day my life _really_ began."

Kaito gaped at him in openmouthed surprise before he smirked, squeezing Shinichi's hand. He lifted it to his lips and dropped a feathery kiss along Shinichi's knuckles, smiling at the detective across the table. "That might be a problem. We can't have the same birthday, after all."

* * *

**HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHINICHI! *heart***

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! Drop me a review if you did~! **

**See you around, my darlings! - Luna**


End file.
